Ignition magneto



Jan. 23,1934. BEEH 1,944,590

' IGNITION MAGNETO Filed July 21,' 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. Z 0 0/3 5896 Qd l' Q44,

ATTORNEY.

Jan. 23, 1934. L. BEEH IGNITION VMAGNETO 2 Sheets-Sheet '2 Filed July 21 1933 INVENTOR. A 0 u ig 59 Q 7 ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 23, 1934 IGNITION MAGNETO Louis Beeh, Longmeadow, Mass, assignor to United American Bosch Corporation, Springfield, Mass., a corporation of New York Application July 21, 1933. Serial No. 681,554

24 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in magnetos and particularly to magnetos adapted to generate ignition current for internal combustion engines.

An object of the invention is to provide a magneto that is inexpensive to produce, is eflicient in design and of large output capacity; with a timer and distributor incorporated therewith; compact in size and of such form that, with no special mounting it can be attached to an internal combustion engine in place of the timer thereon commonly employed with battery ignition systems.

The nature and advantages of the invention are fully set forth in the ensuing description and the novel features are pointed out in the appended claims. The disclosure, however, is illustrative only and changes may be made without departing from the principle. of the invention or exceeding the scope thereof.

On the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an axial sectional view through a magneto according to this invention, the section beingtaken on the line 11 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan of a governor which is incorporated in the magneto for automatic regulation of the timing action thereof;

Fig. 4 shows in perspective one way of arranging the magnets of the magneto; and

Fig. 5 shows another arrangement of said magnets. l

The same numerals identify the same parts throughout.

In the description of what the drawings illustrate, I use the numeral 1 to indicate a sleeve or member of some non-magnetic material, such as brass. Within the member 1 are several stationary permanent magnets 2 arranged close to the periphery thereof At the center of the memher 1 are the generating windings 3 that are also stationary; and at 4 isshown the drive shaft which operates a pair of inductors 5 and 6, so shaped and arranged that the fiux from the magnets 2 is periodically reversed through the windings 3. As indicated in Fig. 2, the magnets 2 extend transversely with respect to the shaft 4, and at the ends or poles of each magnet are polepieces 7, which extend parallel to the shaft 4, and are preferably laminated, as shown in Fig. 1, and are, of course, long enough to bridge the distance between the rotating inductors 5 and 6. As shown in Fig. 2 the inductors 5 and 6 are each of such shape that they comprise polar projections, for example, three on each, but this number can be varied. These inductors are secured in such fixed relation that their polar projections do not coincide but are staggered, so that the polar projections of the inductors cooperate with difierent polepieces '7 of the magnets at different times. That is, when the polar projections of the inductor 5 come into full operative position with respect to the N polepieces '7 of the magnets 2, the inductor 6 will be in similar relation to the S polepieces of the magnets and the direction of the flux will therefore be up through the windings 3 with reference to Fig. 2. Sixty degrees later in the rotation of the shaft 4, the direction of the magnetic flux through the windings 3, will, of course, be reversed.

The top of the housing of the magneto, which is the end remote from that receiving the drive shaft 4, carries a casing 8 in which is disposed suitable interrupter or circuit breaking mechanism, not shown, but operated by a rotating cam 9. Attached to the same end of the housing of the magneto is the distributor head 10 which is of insulation and supports a number of fixed terminals which are connected to the spark plugs of the engine; the circuit to these terminals being periodically closed in the usual way by the rotor 11, which is also of insulation but carries a contact or brush that comes periodically into circuit closing relation with respect to the fixed terminals of the head 10. The windings 3, of course, include a primary coil, one end of which is grounded in the usual wayand the other end of which will be joined to the terminal of the circuit breaker operated by the cam 9. This connection is made in the well-known way and need not be illustrated herein. Over the primary cell of the windings 3 will be the secondary or high tension winding which will also have one end grounded and the other end led out into the distributor as will be described later. For regulating the timing action of the magneto, I include in the housing 1, preferably adjacent the end which receives the shaft 4, a centrifugal governor indicated as a whole by the numeral 12. By means of this governor angular adjustment is automatically effected according to speed between the shaft 4 and the inductors 5 and 6, the timer cam 9 and the distributor rotor 11.

The sleeve or member 1 is provided with a closure member 13 at one end through which the end of the shaft 4 extends, and with a similar cap or closure 14 at the other end. Within the cover member 1 and encompassed by the magnets 2 is a cylindrical element 15 of substantially the same length as the member 1 and of non-magnetic material. such as aluminum, brass. etc., and forming the body of the housing of the magneto. The polepieces 7 are cast into this housing 15; and the magnets 2 are either equal in number to the number of cylinders of the engine for which the magneto is intended or to one-half that number. For instance, if the engine has six cylinders, there will be six magnets, as indicated in Figs. 1, 2 and 4; or three magnets as indicated in Fig. 5. If the larger number of magnets is used they are so disposed on the housing as to be in intimate contact with the poleshoes, each two magnets being in touch with one poleshoe of the same polarity. If only half the number of magnets are employed, each poleshoe is then in touch with one end of one magnet only; and the near end of the adjacent magnet, being in contact with the next succeeding poleshoe, is of opposite polarity. With the number of magnets equal to the number of cylinders, there will be two sets of magnets. one above and one below, as illus trated in Fig. 4, the upper magnets being staggered with respect to the lower ones. But, of course, when the number of magnets is half the number of engine-cylinders, they will be disposed as shown in Fig. 5. In either case, the outer surface of the element 15 will be so shaped as to provide fiat faces, each of which is equal in extent to the area of one of the magnets, to enable the magnets to be properly put in place and engage efficiently with their poles in contact with the polepieces '7. The closure members 13 and 14 are provided with rims or flanges which overlap the cover 1 and are secured in place by screws 17 and 18 which engage threaded bores in the ends of the element 15. The member 1 is indented as shown at 20 at various points to bear upon the magnets and the element 15, and thus fit tightly upon the outside of this element.

The closure 13 has a central bearing 21 for the shaft 4 and this shaft is rigidly connected within the housing adjacent the closure 13 to a disk 22 having a rim 23. Connected to this disk are the governor weights 24 mounted thereon by means of pivot pins 25 and normally opposed in their outward movement by springs 26 engaging these weights at one end and secured at the opposite end to the inside surface of the rim 23. The lower inductor 6 has on the under face thereof a cover plate 27 from which project toward the disk 22 a pair of studs 28 that are received in suitable notches by the governor weights 24. Hence the movement of the weights outward will change the angular relation of the shaft 4 and the lower inductor 6 and of the upper inductor 5 as well, because the two inductors are rigid with respect to each other. The inductor 6 also has a top cover plate 29 and the inductor 5 is likewise provided with top and bottom cover plates 2'7 and 29 respectively. Both inductors are, of course, laminated and the laminations and cover plates are secured together by rivets or in any other suitable manner. The two inductors are connected by a core of suitable laminated magnetic material 30 which extends through the center of the wind ings 3.

The closure 14 has a hollow flange or rim 31 in which the timer casing 8 is received. The upper cover plate 27 of the inductor 5 has afilxed thereto a boss 32 which serves as a journal and has a reduced extension 33 surrounded by a sleeve 34. This sleeve is provided with an inside perforated web through which passes a screw 35 which enters a threaded hole in the end Of the extension 33 and holds the sleeve 34 rigid with respect to the extension 33. Mounted on the sleeve and rigidly secured thereto in any suitable manner is the timer cam 9; and the bottom of the casing 8 may be provided with an aperture large enough to give suflicient clearance to the cam 9 and sleeve 34. The movable terminal of the distributor is shown at 36 embedded in the rotor 11 and the stationary high tension terminals of the distributor are indicated at 37; the inner end of these terminals only being shown within the distributor head 10 and the outer ends thereof are, of course, shaped so that connection with the spark plug leads can be easily made. Within the head 10 is a hollow terminal 38 which receives a brush 39 pressed by a spring against the movable terminal 36 in line with the axis of rotation of the rotor 11, and the terminal 33 is connected by an insulated conductor 40 to the high tension end of the secondary coil of the windings 3. The windings 3 may be covered with insulation having a projection 41 into which one end of the lead 40 passes, and the closure 14 may have a suitable opening with packing therein and a hollow sleeve nut or packing gland 42 in line with the projection 41 for securely holding the end of the conductor 40 which connects with the secondary coil of the windings 3.

The upper closure 14 has a central recess to receive the raceways 43 of a suitable anti-friction bearing surrounding the journal 32 and the upper cover 27' of the adjacent inductor 5 may carry a suitable oil retainer 44.

In the edge of the lower closure 13 is an oil cup 45 connected by an oil duct 46 with oil grooves 47 in that part of the shaft 4 which is enveloped by the bearing 21. The lower cover plate 27 of the lower inductor 6 is provided with a centrally located circular rim 48 which serves as a seat for an anti-friction hearing which surrounds the reduced end 49 of the shaft 4; and a similar bearing is disposed in a suitable seat on the inside of the closure 13 below the disk 22. The shaft 4 is shown with a portion having flat faces 50 which enters an aperture in the disk 22 so that the shaft and disk must rotate together.

In operation the rotation of the shaft 4 revolves the inductors 5 and 6; periodically reversing the magnetic flux through the windings 3. At the moment of reversal the timer cam 9 breaks the primary circuit and at the same time the rotor l1 closes the circuit from the terminal 36 to one of the stationary terminals 37 to effect ignition in that cylinder of the engine which contains a compressed charge. The governor weights 24 act according to the speed of the shaft 4 and of the engine to cause the cam 9 and rotor 11 to effect ignition at the most advantageous point in the engine cycle.

The element 15 is, of course, suitably recessed as indicated at 51 adjacent the insulated projection 41 to enable this projection to aline with the opening in the closure 14 for the conductor 40.

A magneto of this construction is very emcient. It can be made of relatively few parts which are easy to assemble and easy .to dismount whenever inspection or repair is necessary. The entire unit is adapted to replace an ordinary timer including circuit breaker and distributor now used in connection with battery ignition systems. 3

To make such a replacement the ordinary timer casing is simply removed and the magneto of this invention is substituted for it merely by connecting the shaft 4 to the engine. No special I support is needed.

The cam 9 may be part of a sleeve 52 which is fixed upon the sleeve 34 to facilitate mounting this cam.

In Fig. 2 the position of the windings 3 are indicaied by the dashed circle between the inductors 5 and 6 instead of being shown in full; so as to illustrate more clearly the shape and relative position of the two inductors in this figure.

The intersecting diagonal lines 53 at the upper and lower ends of the core 30 in Fig. 1 indicate that the ends of the core are milled fiat so as to hold the inductors 5 and 6 against turning on the ends of the core.

it is, of course, possible to make this magneto for engines of any number of cylinders, although the drawings show it for a six cylinder engine. I can also adapt this magnetofor two spark igni ion. In this case the secondary would not be grounded but both ends would be brought out to a properly arranged rotor for distribution.

The polepieces 7 have the length shown in Fig. 1 so that they extend from one inductor 5 to the other inductor 6; but, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 they have polar faces 54 which are of no greater width than the thickness of the inductors. The polepieces and inductors may be laminated as indicated in Fig. 1 and so may the core 30, this core and the two inductors constituting the fiux distribu or of the magneto. If desired, the element 15 may be so shaped that only the polar faces 54 are exposed through the inner surface of the element 15 and the portion of the polepieces 7 between the polar faces may be shielded by the intervention between these polepieces and the coil 3 of the material of-which the element 15 is composed.

As indicated in Fig. 1 the magneto above described has such shape and dimensions that it belongs to the so-called timer type; that is, it resembles in outside appearance the usual timer comprising a casing enclosing a low tension circuit interrup'er and a high tension circuit distributor, and occasionally other apparatus, of the sort now widely used in connection with the ignition systems of internal combustion engines, employing batteries or some other source of current in conjunction wih a high tension iginition coil. A magneto having this shape and dimensions can therefore be substituted for such a timer without requiring any special mounting and since the magneto is a complete unit the battery or other ex ernal source of high tension current can be dispensed with.

I a timer and a distributor, staionary generating windings within said housing, inductors at each end of said windings, a. core connecting said inductors, a shaft to rotate said core and said inductors, and magnets within the magneto surrounding the windings and extending transversely with respect to said core and shaft.

3. A magneto comprising a housing. stationary windings therein, rotatable inductors, and stationary magnets arranged at spaced points in said magneto around said windings and extending transversely with respect to the axis thereof.

4. A magneto comprising a housing, stationary windings therein, inductors at the ends of the windings, magnets in the magneto surrounding said windings and extending transversely with respect to the axis thereof, and polepieces at the ends of said magne s and extending'parallel to the axis of the windings between said inductors.

5. A magneto comprising a cylindrical housing element, windings encircled by said element, inductors encircled by said element, stationary magnets around said element, and polepieces adjacent the ends of the magnets, said element having recesses through which the polepieces project into operative position with respect to the inductors.

6. A magneto comprising windings, rotatable inductors adjacent the windings and a cylindrical housing element surrounding the windings and the inductors, magnets around said element, polepieces at the ends of the magnets, said element having recesses to receive said polepieces and a cover for the housing element having indented portions engaging the outer faces of said magnets.

'7. A magneto comprising a housing including a non-magnetic member, generating windings within said member, rotatable inductors adjacent the ends of said windings, magnets surrounding said windings, polepieces at the ends of the magnets extending between said inductors, closures for the ends of said member, a drive shaft extending through one of said closures, the other closure having a circular rim extending therefrom and a timer casing received within said rim and a distributor head supported thereon.

8. A magneto comprising a housing including a body of non-magnetic material, windings within said body, fixed magnets with polepieces-around said body, inductors to cooperate with said windings and polepieces, closures for the ends of the body, a shaft' received in one of said closures, governor means connected to said shaft and one of said inductors, the other closure supporting circuit breaking and distributing means connected to the windings, and a shaft connected'to the other inductor for operating said circuit breaking and distributing means.

9. A magneto comprising a shaft having a disk affixed thereon, governor weights pivoted on said disk, generating windings, fixed magnets adjacent the windings, and rotatable inductor means to control the flux of said magnets through said windings, one of said inductors having projections engaged by said governor weights to be adjusted thereby.

10. A magneto comprising a non-magnetic casing, a cylindrical housing element having longitudinal recesses therein, magnets between said element and the casing, polepieces at the ends of the magnets extending through the recesses, and stationary windings and rotatable inductors encircled by said element, said casing having indented portions which engage said magnets to hold said magnets in position.

11. A magneto comprising a housing, stationary windings therein, stationary magnets and movable inductors therein cooperating with said windings, a timer casing and a distributor head on the housing and a shaft afilxed to one of said inductors and extending into the timer casing and distributor head to operate the movable terminals thereof.

I 12 A magneto comprising a housing carrying a timer and a distributor, stationary windings within the housing, rotatable inductor means parallel to the ends of the windings, and stationary magnets in the magneto surrounding the windings and extending transversely with respect to the axis thereof, said inductor means having a core within said windings.

l3. A magneto comprising a housing carrying a timer and a distributor, stationary generating windings within said housing, inductors at each end 0! said windings, a core connecting said inductors, a shaft to rotate said core and said inductors, and magnets within the magneto surrounding the windings and extending transversely with respect to said core and shaft, said core being within said windings;

14. A magneto comprising a housing, stationary windings therein, rotatable inductors, and stationary magnets arranged at spaced points in said magneto around said windings and extending transversely with respect to the axis thereof, said inductors having a connecting core within said windings.

15. A magneto comprising a housing, stationary windings therein, inductors at the ends of the windings, magnets in the magneto surrounding said windings and extending transversely with respect to the axis thereof, and polepieces at the ends of the magnets and extending parallel to the axis of the windings between said inductors, the latter having a connecting core within said windings.

16. A magneto comprising a cylindrical housing element, windings encircled by said element, inductors encircled by said element, stationary magnets around said element, and polepieces ad- J'acent the ends of the magnets, said element having recesses through which the polepieces pro-' ject into operative position with respect to the inductors, the latter having a connecting core within said windings.

17, A magneto comprising a cylindrical housing element, windings encircled by said element, said element having polepieces embedded therein and extending axially thereof, and magnets on the outside of said element and extending in transverse positions to bridge said polepieces, said magnets being of the same width as the axial length of said element.

18. A magneto comprising a cylindrical housing element, windings encircled by said element, magnets around said element, the magnets being arranged in two groups, one group adjacent one end of the element and the other group adjacent the other end, and polepieces carried by said element in position to cooperate with the ends of said magnets. Y

19. A magneto comprising a cylindrical hous ing element, windings encircled by said element, magnets around said element, the magnets being arranged in two groups, one group adjacent one end of the element and the other group adjacent the other end, and polepieces carried by said element in position to cooperate with the ends of said magnets, the magnets of one group being staggered with respect to the magnets of the other group.

20. A magneto comprising a cylindrical housing element, polepieces carried by said element and extending axially thereof, magnets to cooperate with the polepieces, the polepieces having polar faces adjacent each end of said element, generating windings encircled by said element between the polar faces at the two ends of the polepieces and rotary inductors at each end of the coil cooperating with the polar faces thereat.

21. A magneto comprising a cylindrical housing element, polepieces carriedby said element and extending axially thereof, magnets to cooperate with the polepieces, the polepieces having polar faces adjacent each end of said element, generating windings encircled by said element between the polar faces at the two ends of the polepieces and rotary inductors at each end of the coil cooperating with the polar faces thereat, the windings being snugly received within said element between the polar faces at the two ends thereof.

22. A magneto comprising a cylindrical housing element, polepieces carried by said element, said polepieces having polar faces at the opposite ends of said element, generating coils within said element magnets associated with said polepieces and rotary inductors in the plane of said polepieces at the two ends of said element.

23. A magneto of the timer type comprising a housing bearing a circuit interrupter and an ignition current distributor containing movable members, stationary generating windings in said housing, one or more magnets associated with said housing, a flux distributor to cooperate with said magnets and windings, the magneto having only two air gaps between complementary magnetic'pole pieces at each period of ignition, and a shaft to actuate said flux distributor and said members.

24. An ignition magneto of the timer type com prising a housing, a stationary coil in said hous ing, one or more stationary magnets associated with said housing and a flux distributor to cooperate with said magnets and coil, the mag neto having only two air gaps between complementary magnetic pole pieces at each instant of ignition.

LOUIS BEEH. 

